Improvement in watch-pocket guards



J". KOEI-ILER,

W'ATCH-POCKET GUARD. N0.176,319. Patented Apri118, 1876.

(STD

NPEYERQ. PHOTO-LITNOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH KOEHLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATCH-POCKET GUARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,319, dated April 18, 1876 application filed February To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH KOEHLER, of the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Watch-Pocket Guards, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to a hinged frame attached to a pocket of leather or other material. One side of this hinged frame is fastened to the garment by screws extending from the back and provided with nuts. The other side of the frame is made with a bow to grasp the shank of the watch or the guard, and to this frame there are latch-pieces that pass through the stationary part of the frame, and are retained by spring-catches. The spring of the catches is variable in its strength, and the pocket is liberated by pulling upon a cord or string that extends up inside the vest.

By this construction a person is able to secure his watch against abstraction by a pickpocket, and the safety-guard is adapted to being inserted into an ordinary pocket, so that when the safety-pocket is not required the watch can be inserted outside of it in the ordinary pocket.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a section of the pocket-guard as inserted into a vest. Fig. 2 is a rear view, with the covering of the back frame partially removed.

The frame is made of the parts a. b, hinged together at c, and the pocket h is attached to the same. It is preferably made ofsoft leather, and somewhat resembles a purse. The frame I), however, is made with a bow at b, that gives room between the front frame I) and back frame a, for the shank of the watch or the watch-guard when the safety-pocket is closed. This safety-pocket is placed within the ordinary pocket f of a garment, so as not to be Visible, and the safety-pocket is secured to the garment f by the screws 0 e, that project from the back of the frame a, and pass through holes in the garment and receive the nuts 0. The piece of leather 9 at the back of the garment prevents injury to the same by the nuts, and-the nuts are preferably provided with wire loops, as shown, by means of which they may easily be turned, such wire loops having their ends within holes at the edges of the nut, so that the loops can be swung back into the same plane of the nuts, and be out of the way when not in use. One or more nuts and screws may be used to attach the back part of the leather pocket, as at 6 Upon the frame I) are the two projecting latches i i, one at each side of the how 12, and these latches pass through mortises in the frame a, and are retained by the spring-catches l, that extend as arms at each side of the round stem 0. This stem 0 can be revolved in the metal plate forming the catches l, and it passes into a case, r, upon the back of the frame a, through a helical spring, 8, and into the square or polygonal nut u, and this nut to can slide in the case l, but not revolve; hence, by revolving the stem 0, the screw thereon will move the nut u either one way or the other and regulate the power of the spring 8, to draw the catches into contact with the latches. The eye 12 at the end of the stem 0 receives the cord or ribbon .90, at the upper end of which is a shield pin or claw, :10, to catch into the fabric of the vest and hold the same up in a convenient position, so that the person using this watch-pocket guard can unlatch the frame and open the pocket by pulling upon the cord as and liberating the latches i from the catches l.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the hinged frame a b and pocket h, of the attaching screws and nuts e, substantially as set forth.

2. The catches l, stem 0, spring 8, and nut u Within the case 1', in combination with the hinged frames to b, latches t, and cord or ribbon w, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 3d day of February, A. D. 1876.

JOSEPH KOEHLER. 

